Jay Rayner on restaurants + United Kingdom holidays | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/series/jayrayner+travel/uk
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Brassica, Beaminster, Dorset: restaurant review | Jay Raynerhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/apr/12/brassica-beaminster-dorset-restaurant-review-jay-rayner
<p>Dorset reminds Jay Rayner of family holidays in the 70s, but Brassica gives him the chance to make some new memories</p><p>For seven years from 1970 my family went on holiday to a hotel overlooking Studland Bay in Dorset. As a result I’ve never quite managed to believe that the county actually exists, in the way Leicester or Bromsgrove plainly do. My memories, being those of a blissfully happy child, are presented in the excitable colours of postwar colour photography, drenched for good measure in honeyed sunshine. Given that we were there for the summers of both 1975 and 76, the latter is probably not overly imagined. Certainly it is impossible for that Dorset to coexist with the realities of me fighting my way on to the tube at Brixton.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/apr/12/brassica-beaminster-dorset-restaurant-review-jay-rayner">Continue reading...</a>RestaurantsRestaurantsFood & drinkLife and styleTravelDorset holidaysUnited Kingdom holidaysSun, 12 Apr 2015 04:59:09 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/apr/12/brassica-beaminster-dorset-restaurant-review-jay-raynerPhotograph: Jim Wileman/ObserverNourishing nostalgica: the clean lines of Brassica, in Dorset, where Jay's family went on holiday in the 70s. Photograph: Jim Wileman for the ObserverPhotograph: Jim Wileman/ObserverNourishing nostalgica: the clean lines of Brassica, in Dorset, where Jay's family went on holiday in the 70s. Photograph: Jim Wileman for the ObserverJay Rayner2015-04-12T04:59:09ZWheatsheaf Inn: restaurant review | Jay Raynerhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jun/08/wheatsheaf-inn-gloucestershire-restaurant-review-jay-rayner
With its fuss-free menu, decadent puddings and gentle buzz, the Wheatsheaf is doing Britain proud<p><strong>Northleach, near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire (01451 860 244). Meal for two, including drinks and service: £90</strong></p><p>Nobody needs dessert. Normal people don't run into restaurants at lunch or dinner shouting: "I'm famished! Bring me the dessert menu!" They might want to, but they don't. People might stare and point. So they choose a main or a starter. Of&nbsp;course we have all had emergency cake moments: mid-afternoon, when we are furious with the world, or the world is furious with us; when the only medicine for our mood is a&nbsp;juggernaut of sugar. But nice is not the same as necessary.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jun/08/wheatsheaf-inn-gloucestershire-restaurant-review-jay-rayner">Continue reading...</a>TravelRestaurantsRestaurantsGloucestershire holidaysFood & drinkLife and styleUnited Kingdom holidaysEngland holidaysSun, 08 Jun 2014 06:30:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jun/08/wheatsheaf-inn-gloucestershire-restaurant-review-jay-raynerPhotograph: Andrew Fox/ObserverCream of the Cotswolds: the Wheatsheaf Inn at Northleach, Gloucestershire. Photograph: Andrew Fox for the ObserverPhotograph: Andrew Fox/ObserverCream of the Cotswolds: the Wheatsheaf Inn at Northleach, Gloucestershire. Photograph: Andrew Fox for the ObserverJay Rayner2014-06-08T06:30:00ZBelfast restaurant reviews: Coppi, Mourne Seafood Bar, Ox Restauranthttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jul/21/coppi-mourne-ox-belfast-restaurants
With its plethora of restaurants, the city is firmly geared up for the visiting gourmand. But just how good are they? <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jul/21/coppi-mourne-ox-belfast-restaurants">Continue reading...</a>Food & drinkBelfast holidaysIreland holidaysRestaurantsRestaurantsLife and styleTravelUnited Kingdom holidaysSun, 21 Jul 2013 06:36:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jul/21/coppi-mourne-ox-belfast-restaurantsPhotograph: William Cherry/PresseyeBull market: the simple interior at Ox. Photograph: William Cherry/PressEyePhotograph: William Cherry/PresseyeBull market: the simple interior at Ox. Photograph: William Cherry/PressEyeJay Rayner2013-07-21T06:36:00ZAllium Brasserie: restaurant reviewhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jan/06/restaurant-review-allium-brasserie-bath
The unlikely pairing of a gifted chef and a Best Western means the hotel group, in Bath at least, is living up to its name<p><strong>Best Western Abbey Hotel, North Parade, Bath (01225 461 603). Meal for two, including wine and service: £100 </strong><br>Like "butcher's choice" and "luxury flat", "Best Western" before the word "hotel" is a promise already broken. The flats advertised as luxury never are; the sausages allegedly chosen by the butcher are a defamation of the pig. And a Best Western Hotel leaves you musing on what seventh circle of hell merely "adequate" would offer. I write from experience of drab, over-heated rooms smelling of despair and yesterday's breakfast; of creaking plumbing and demoralised staff waiting to erase this period of their life from the CV; of breakfast buffets where rubberised eggs pucker and tense. Nothing good has ever happened to me in a Best Western-branded hotel. Until now.</p><p>For hiding away in the Best Western Abbey Hotel in Bath is something very special. It is a kitchen run by a&nbsp;gifted chef called Chris Staines. The last time I ate his food it was at the Michelin-starred Foliage at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Knightsbridge. His dishes there – a glorious melon soup with a shard of crisped Parma ham on top, a plate of sweetbreads with a sweet onion compote and garlic caramel – were deep and intense and clever. They were ruined by the self-conscious poncery of "faine dining" which made the whole experience about as much of a laugh as having verrucas removed with a blow torch. It was all waiter faff and bother. Suddenly the idea of Staines in a Best Western, where he landed after a&nbsp;journey around various grand hotel gigs, sounded promising. His terrific food, without the hassle? Could it be?</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jan/06/restaurant-review-allium-brasserie-bath">Continue reading...</a>Bath holidaysFood & drinkRestaurantsRestaurantsUnited Kingdom holidaysLife and styleTravelEngland holidaysSun, 06 Jan 2013 00:08:52 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jan/06/restaurant-review-allium-brasserie-bathPhotograph: SWNSBest in the west: the simple but likable dining room of the Allium Brasserie, in one of Bath's Best Western hotels. Photograph: SWNSPhotograph: SWNSBest in the west: the simple but likable dining room of the Allium Brasserie, in one of Bath's Best Western hotels. Photograph: SWNSJay Rayner2013-01-06T00:08:52ZThe Karczma, Birmingham: restaurant reviewhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/dec/23/polish-restaurant-karczma-birmingham-review
It's easy to laugh at the Karczma. But the food is so good and so cheap that you'll soon be crying into your vodka<p><strong>Bordesley Street, Birmingham (0121 448 0017). Meal for two, including service: £60 </strong><br>There may be restaurants with more unpromising entrances elsewhere in Britain, but not many. The door to the <a href="http://www.thekarczma.co.uk/" title="">Karczma</a> – it means "the inn" – is on the ground floor of Birmingham's <a href="http://www.polishcentrebirmingham.org.uk/" title="">Polish Centre</a>, a dreary grey brutalist shoe box of a building, complete with a memorial to the Polish officers murdered by the Soviets at Katyn in 1940.. Through the door, however, and you are somewhere else – a place that demands a&nbsp;suspension of, well, everything: cynicism, self-regarding urbane sophistication and, of course, disbelief.</p><p>The ceiling is thatched with straw. The walls are painted with murals of pre-war farm life. There is gnarly farmyard-style furniture draped with sheepskins. There are lines of fake greenery spun through with fairy lights which may just be there for Christmas but could quite as easily be there all year round. Roaring Polish songs&nbsp;play and a flatscreen TV shows the news from home. It is meant, I think, to look like a country cottage in the <a href="http://www.zakopane-life.com/poland/tatra-mountains-zakopane" title="">Tatra mountains</a>, only with consumer electronics. It&nbsp;is high&nbsp;camp with a&nbsp;very straight face.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/dec/23/polish-restaurant-karczma-birmingham-review">Continue reading...</a>Birmingham holidaysFood & drinkRestaurantsRestaurantsUnited Kingdom holidaysLife and styleTravelEngland holidaysSun, 23 Dec 2012 00:10:03 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/dec/23/polish-restaurant-karczma-birmingham-reviewPhotograph: Andrew Fox/ObserverA corner of Poland: the interior of the Karczma in Birmingham, complete with straw. Photograph: Andrew Fox for the ObserverPhotograph: Andrew Fox/ObserverA corner of Poland: the interior of the Karczma in Birmingham, complete with straw. Photograph: Andrew Fox for the ObserverJay Rayner2012-12-23T00:10:03ZRestaurant review: Three Marinershttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/dec/16/three-mariners-north-kent-restaurant
When a north Kent pub is packed on a&nbsp;Monday lunchtime in December, it's clear something special is going on<p><strong>2 Church Road, Oare, near Faversham, Kent (01795 533633). Meal for two, including drinks and service: £80</strong></p><p>A few weeks ago, in a restaurant to which I later gave a positive review, a&nbsp;waitress knocked over and smashed a glass on our table. I didn't write about it because accidents happen. If they'd been throwing soup against the walls and pouring gravy down our&nbsp;necks, then it would have been a part of the story. You must have a&nbsp;good reason to put the boot in.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/dec/16/three-mariners-north-kent-restaurant">Continue reading...</a>Food & drinkRestaurantsRestaurantsLife and styleKent holidaysTravelUnited Kingdom holidaysEngland holidaysSun, 16 Dec 2012 00:07:30 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/dec/16/three-mariners-north-kent-restaurantPhotograph: Antonio Olmos/ObserverGold coast: the atmospheric interior of the Three Mariners on the north Kent coastline. Photograph: Antonio Olmos for the ObserverPhotograph: Antonio Olmos/ObserverGold coast: the atmospheric interior of the Three Mariners on the north Kent coastline. Photograph: Antonio Olmos for the ObserverJay Rayner2012-12-16T00:07:30ZRestaurant review: Neptune Inn, Hunstanton, Norfolkhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/jul/22/jay-rayner-neptune-norfolk-hunstanton-review
Serious food with a great attention to detail is served at the Neptune Inn, but the cost will leave you slack-jawed<p><strong>Old Hunstanton, Norfolk (01485 532 122). Meal for two, including wine and service: £160</strong><br>I thought long and hard before booking a table at the Neptune Inn at Old Hunstanton, though not perhaps for as long as the owners, Kevin and Jacki Mangeolles, might have liked. A decade ago I reviewed Kevin's cooking at the George Hotel on the Isle of Wight. The review wasn't pretty: a dead, windowless room with all the atmosphere of an undertaker's down on its luck, in which was served highly ambitious, derivative food full of technique but less encumbered with pleasure. I ruined their Sunday morning. Mind you they hadn't done much for my evening either so perhaps it was quits.</p><p>Now they run a small restaurant with rooms on the expensive bit of the north Norfolk coast just within reach of people from London with very deep pockets. They need them; we'll come back to that. It's a sweet lump of red-brick Victoriana with sash windows. I do like windows. They let in the light; allow you to see the understated tastefulness of the tidy bare floorboards, the white-painted, wood-slatted walls, the clean lines of it all.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/jul/22/jay-rayner-neptune-norfolk-hunstanton-review">Continue reading...</a>Food & drinkUnited Kingdom holidaysRestaurantsRestaurantsLife and styleTravelEngland holidaysNorfolk holidaysSat, 21 Jul 2012 23:07:02 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/jul/22/jay-rayner-neptune-norfolk-hunstanton-reviewPhotograph: Richard Saker/ObserverShelling out: the tasteful dining room at the Neptune Inn, Old Hunstanton, Norfolk. Photograph: Richard Saker for the ObserverPhotograph: Richard Saker/ObserverShelling out: the tasteful dining room at the Neptune Inn, Old Hunstanton, Norfolk. Photograph: Richard Saker for the ObserverJay Rayner2012-07-21T23:07:02ZRestaurant review: the Potted Pighttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/nov/20/jay-rayner-potted-pig-cardiff
Making a pig of yourself in the Welsh capital is now easier than ever – and there's a surprise bonus for Jay, too<br /><br /><p><strong>27 High Street, Cardiff (02920 224 817). Meal for two, including wine and service, £80</strong><br>Opposite the Potted Pig in Cardiff is a branch of High and Mighty, the clothes shop for vast men with their own measurable gravitational field. It was a touching sight in these bland pedestrianised streets at the heart of the Welsh capital, about which nobody will ever write a sonnet, as if it were a marker for largesse in the immediate vicinity. Fill up on piggyness on one side of the road, then roll out across the precinct to find something a little more accommodating to the newly fuller figure on the other. (The safari suit is a classic and I won't hear a word said against it.) I was suddenly attracted to the notion that branches of High and Mighty could behave as the pilot fish of the British restaurant world: if you see one, you know there's somewhere good to eat nearby.</p><p>Shame it doesn't actually work like that, but at least in this case it's true, however accidentally. The Potted Pig, which opened earlier this year, is a gift to a city which, even its biggest fans will admit, has rarely been spoilt for good restaurants. For a&nbsp;long time people talked sagely about Le&nbsp;Gallois, but that has now gone. There are a couple of Indians, most notably Mint and Mustard, which did well in the <em>Observer Food Monthly</em> awards – and that's about it.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/nov/20/jay-rayner-potted-pig-cardiff">Continue reading...</a>Food & drinkCardiff holidaysRestaurantsRestaurantsWales holidaysUnited Kingdom holidaysLife and styleTravelSun, 20 Nov 2011 00:08:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/nov/20/jay-rayner-potted-pig-cardiffPhotograph: Jason Ingram/ObserverAt the trough: the vaulted ceiling of the Potted Pig in Cardiff. Photograph: Jason Ingram for the ObserverPhotograph: Jason Ingram/ObserverAt the trough: the vaulted ceiling of the Potted Pig in Cardiff. Photograph: Jason Ingram for the ObserverJay Rayner2011-11-20T00:08:01ZRestaurant review: The Mark Addyhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/apr/24/mark-addy-manchester-jay-rayner
Tripe, faggots, hogget… the menu at Manchester's exceptional Mark Addy is studded with sumptuous meaty treats<p><strong>Stanley Street, Salford, Manchester (0161 832 4080). Meal for two, including wine and service, £75</strong></p><p>There is about Robert Owen Brown a touch of the Dickens character; one of those sturdy, reliable ones who turn up a few chapters in when everything is looking bleak for the hero, and hangs about the page looking like a place of safety. He has ginger curls, wears unbuttoned waistcoats, calls men sir and women madam in a way that is entirely unforced, and has a robust response to anything he judges to be total bollocks. Whenever I write about his food I am compelled to mention his refusal to put the words petit pois on the menu. "They're little peas," he once told me. "We're not in France." Indeed not. We are by a canal in Manchester.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/apr/24/mark-addy-manchester-jay-rayner">Continue reading...</a>Manchester holidaysFood & drinkRestaurantsRestaurantsUnited Kingdom holidaysLife and styleTravelEngland holidaysSat, 23 Apr 2011 23:05:08 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/apr/24/mark-addy-manchester-jay-raynerPhotograph: CHRISTOPHER THOMOND/Guardian./ObserverHitting the mark: the interior boasts some 70s atrocities, but the food is pure class. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the ObserverPhotograph: CHRISTOPHER THOMOND/Guardian./ObserverHitting the mark: the interior boasts some 70s atrocities, but the food is pure class. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the ObserverJay Rayner2011-04-23T23:05:08ZRestaurant review: Kotahttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/19/jay-rayner-restaurant-review-kota-cornwall-porthleven
It may be at the tip of Cornwall's toe, but Kota's dynamic menu means its finger is very much on the pulse<p><strong>Harbour Head, Porthleven, Cornwall (01326 562 407). Meal for two, including wine and service, £90</strong><br>To travel by land and sea between this week's restaurant and the one I reviewed a few weeks ago on the Isle of Lewis would require a journey of 810 miles. I am stone-cold certain that this is the greatest distance between two restaurants within the British Isles reviewed by a UK restaurant critic within one calendar month. I deserve a medal. Or a nice meal out. Oh hang on. I've already had one of those.</p><p>The point is that I've been travelling a lot recently (thank you, Channel 4, for dispatching me across the country in the service of consumer journalism; Wednesdays, 8pm. Don't miss it.) Britain being quite a big place – around 810 miles from tip to toe, as you asked – one would expect variety. But these two experiences told exactly the same story. In Stornoway I mocked my own assumptions about a Scottish island restaurant, the way I imagined it would be all unfussy fish dishes and horny-handed serving wenches, and instead got a modern urban bistro. Down in Porthleven, at that place where Cornwall runs into the sea, I again expected the fishing-village shtick: food that went from surf to plate with little interference.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/19/jay-rayner-restaurant-review-kota-cornwall-porthleven">Continue reading...</a>Food & drinkRestaurantsRestaurantsCornwall holidaysEurope holidaysLife and styleTravelUnited Kingdom holidaysEngland holidaysSat, 18 Sep 2010 23:05:15 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/19/jay-rayner-restaurant-review-kota-cornwall-porthlevenPhotograph: James Ram/ObserverKota Restaurant, Porthleven, Cornwall. Photograph: James Ram for the ObserverPhotograph: James Ram/ObserverKota Restaurant, Porthleven, Cornwall. Photograph: James Ram for the ObserverJay Rayner2010-09-18T23:05:15ZJay Rayner reviews Scott's, in Mayfair, Londonhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/jan/14/foodanddrink.restaurants
With its unashamed opulence and delicate touch in the kitchen, the reopened Scott's is pure foodie theatre. Jay Rayner stomachs the odd fluffed line to hail the return of a superstar<p><strong>Scott's, 20 Mount Street, Mayfair, London W1 (020 7495 7309). Meal for two, including wine and service, £150</strong></p><p>If restaurants were people, Scott's in Mayfair would be an old duchess, one who has just taken a bloody expensive trip to Harley Street for some serious cosmetic surgery. When the stitches heal and the swelling subsides - bear with me here - the old girl should look as good as old. Scott's, which opened on the Haymarket in 1851 and moved to its present site in 1968, could become again one of London's great fish restaurants. The new owners also own the Ivy and Le Caprice. They certainly have the experience to get it right. For now, though, it requires a serious bit of nursing.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/jan/14/foodanddrink.restaurants">Continue reading...</a>Food & drinkRestaurantsRestaurantsLondon holidaysUnited Kingdom holidaysLife and styleSun, 14 Jan 2007 12:34:48 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/jan/14/foodanddrink.restaurantsJay Rayner2007-01-14T12:34:48ZJay Rayner reveiws The Rosemary, Swindonhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/jan/07/foodanddrink.uk
When Honda's Japanese expats longed for a taste of home in Swindon, the car giant rolled out a top-of-the-range sushi bar in a nearby hotel. Jay Rayner takes his taste buds for a spin<p><strong>The Rosemary restaurant, Stanton House Hotel, Swindon (08700 841 388). Meal for two, including wine and service £40-70</strong></p><p>When winter comes, my thoughts turn to stew. If it's got a pulse I'll braise it, which is probably why the cat slinks away from me at this time of year, a look of fear in its eyes. I love grills. I adore roasts. But there is something about braising, about the intense interchange of flavours between cooking liquor and those tougher but much tastier cuts of meats which appeals to a very basic part of me. It demands a little thought, of course, and a willingness for delayed gratification, but it is always worth the wait. My house is most like a home when it smells of something that has been cooking long and slow in the oven all day.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/jan/07/foodanddrink.uk">Continue reading...</a>Food & drinkUnited Kingdom holidaysRestaurantsRestaurantsLife and styleSwindonSun, 07 Jan 2007 00:04:34 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/jan/07/foodanddrink.ukJay Rayner2007-01-07T00:04:34ZJay Rayner reviews Suzie Wong, W1https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/dec/31/foodanddrink.restaurants
The crew of drill-wielding builders and the uninterrupted view of the disabled loo was poor, but it wasn't nearly as awful as the food. Jay Rayner reveals how Suzie Wong got it all so wrong<p><strong>Suzie Wong, 16 Old Compton Street, London W1 (020 74373544). Meal for two, including wine and service, £65</strong></p><p>Here is a top tip, which I offer free of charge. If you are a newish restaurant - hell, a restaurant of any vintage - it is not a good idea to tell the guy who has come to put up the paintings that it's OK for him to carry on working over lunch. By the time I visited Suzie Wong, a pan-Asian grazing menu place in London's Soho, it had been open for a month without anything on its Burgundy-painted walls. It could probably have remained naked an hour or two more. Instead we were treated to the tooth-rattling sound of loud drilling. And I'm not just talking raised voices loud. I'm talking 'MY EARS ARE GOING TO BLEED' loud; I'm talking 'JESUS CHRIST WHEN WILL IT STOP? I CAN'T HEAR THE SOUND OF MY OWN VOICE' loud. The waiters did nothing to stop it. They merely grimaced and moved on.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/dec/31/foodanddrink.restaurants">Continue reading...</a>Food & drinkLife and styleRestaurantsRestaurantsLondon holidaysUnited Kingdom holidaysSun, 31 Dec 2006 00:08:14 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/dec/31/foodanddrink.restaurantsJay Rayner2006-12-31T00:08:14ZJay Rayner reviews St Alban, London SW1https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/dec/17/foodanddrink.shopping1
With the dream team behind the Ivy on board, diners who like a side-serving of celebs will be flocking to St Alban. But Jay Rayner fears the magic ingredient has vanished into thin air<p><strong>4-12 Regent Street, London SW1<br>(020 7499 8558).<br>Meal for two, including wine and service £110</strong></p><p>Stop the presses! Chris Corbin and Jeremy King, London's most consummate restaurateurs, are not infallible. The men who made the Ivy and Caprice feel not simply like restaurants but vital social institutions, who then opened the Wolseley on Piccadilly, and made it feel like it had been there for decades, have opened a new restaurant and it is ... merely OK. Sure, the service is slick - Corbin and King have always run the tightest crews in London - and a lot of the food is nice. But it lacks that whoosh of charisma.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/dec/17/foodanddrink.shopping1">Continue reading...</a>Food & drinkLife and styleLondon holidaysUnited Kingdom holidaysRestaurantsRestaurantsSun, 17 Dec 2006 02:09:30 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/dec/17/foodanddrink.shopping1Jay Rayner2006-12-17T02:09:30ZJay Rayner reviews The Glasshouse in Worcesterhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/dec/10/foodanddrink.uk
Amateurish waiters at the Glasshouse had the nerve to deprive Jay Rayner of half his wine. Fortunately for all concerned, a sublime pheasant pudding made up for everything<p><strong>Brasserie, Sidbury, Worcester, (01905 611 120).<br> Meal for two with wine and service £80 </strong></p><p>The story so far: last year, after more than a decade in Ludlow, chef Shaun Hill closed down his Michelin-starred restaurant the Merchant House, causing foodies to rend their clothing and soothsayers to declare the advent of the End of Days as predicted in the Book of Revelation. Or at the very least, the demise of Ludlow as a gastronomic centre. (This does seem to be the case; Claude Bosi's Hibiscus, which has two stars, is also now leaving town.)</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/dec/10/foodanddrink.uk">Continue reading...</a>Food & drinkUnited Kingdom holidaysWorcester holidaysLife and styleRestaurantsRestaurantsTravelEngland holidaysSun, 10 Dec 2006 00:37:04 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/dec/10/foodanddrink.ukJay Rayner2006-12-10T00:37:04ZJay Rayner reviews Theo Randall at The Intercontinental, London W1https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/dec/03/foodanddrink.london
It may be costly, but the sublime skills of Theo Randall provided the stand-out meal of the year for Jay Rayner. Sometimes you just have to put your money where your mouth is<p><strong>1 Hamilton Place, Park Lane, London W1 (020 7409 3131)<br>Meal for two, with wine, £140</strong></p><p>Too often at dinner there is a third, invisible person sitting alongside myself and my companion. That third person is you, the reader. Or not exactly you, but a version of you, the one who can be guaranteed to roll their eyes and snort with derision when they see the estimated cost of a meal for two. My heart falls when I see big numbers on menus, not because I think it's unreasonable - perhaps I have a realistic sense of what running a restaurant costs, perhaps I no longer have any sense at all - but because I know some of you will be reaching for the flaming torches and pitchforks. So go on, have another look at that £140. Now you have, we can get this out of the way. Theo Randall at the Intercontinental is painfully expensive. Deal with it, because here's the information you really need: this restaurant served me the best meal I have eaten all year.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/dec/03/foodanddrink.london">Continue reading...</a>Food & drinkLondon holidaysUnited Kingdom holidaysRestaurantsRestaurantsLife and styleTravelEngland holidaysSun, 03 Dec 2006 00:38:51 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/dec/03/foodanddrink.londonJay Rayner2006-12-03T00:38:51ZJay Rayner visits three hotbeds of Indian cuisinehttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/nov/26/foodanddrink.restaurants
Several decades in the making, a subcontinent in the mix and, officially, our favourite food... Jay Rayner visits three hotbeds of Indian cuisine to savour some of the best of the east in the west<p><strong> Mumtaz</strong><br>400 Great Horton Road, Bradford<br>(01274 571 861)<br>Meal for two, including drinks, £45</p><p>I have developed an odd habit. Whenever the take-away menu from a neighbourhood Indian restaurant lands on my doormat I search it for references to lamb chops. Ever since I first visited Tayyabs in London's Whitechapel, where the long-marinated tandoori-roasted chops are a thing of wonder - rich spicy meat, succulent fat, lots of bone nibble-age - just the Technicolor flash of a take-away menu's cover has had me dreaming about them. Sometimes, stupidly, I have ordered them. They have always been a disappointment. Never black enough. Never intense enough. Never 'oh my gosh' enough.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/nov/26/foodanddrink.restaurants">Continue reading...</a>Food & drinkLife and styleRestaurantsRestaurantsYorkshire holidaysLondon holidaysUnited Kingdom holidaysSun, 26 Nov 2006 12:12:35 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/nov/26/foodanddrink.restaurantsJay Rayner2006-11-26T12:12:35ZJay Rayner reviews the National Dining Rooms, London WC2https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/nov/19/foodanddrink.restaurants
A morning spent open-mouthed before a host of old masters put Jay Rayner in just the right frame of mind to savour the artistry of Oliver Peyton's National Dining Rooms<p><strong>The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London WC2 (020 7747 2525)<br>Meal for two, including wine, £70</strong></p><p>I went to lunch at the Dining Rooms of London's National Gallery, ate some nice food and nothing bad happened. For an itinerant eater looking less for good food - though that is always a boon - than for something to write about, this was deeply frustrating, not least because bad things were constantly threatened. And then, through sheer professionalism, the National Dining Rooms saved the day. The first mistake was mine: we got lost looking for the restaurant and ended up wandering galleries full of huge and gilded religious icons. Not a bad thing in itself; it's always handy to have an excuse for some heaven-and-hell gags. Unfortunately, nothing worthy of rapture or eternal damnation happened.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/nov/19/foodanddrink.restaurants">Continue reading...</a>Food & drinkLife and styleRestaurantsRestaurantsLondon holidaysUnited Kingdom holidaysTravelEngland holidaysSun, 19 Nov 2006 13:33:37 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/nov/19/foodanddrink.restaurantsJay Rayner2006-11-19T13:33:37ZJay Rayner reviews Ooze, 62 Goodge St, London, W1https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/nov/12/foodanddrink.restaurants
If you're a specialist restaurant, it's crucial that you take your one main dish pretty seriously. But Ooze misses the point. Jay Rayner visits a novel eatery heading for a sticky end.<p><strong>Ooze, 62 Goodge St, London, W1(020 7436 9444) </strong><br> <strong>Meal for two including wine and service, £60 </strong></p><p>Here's what I want to know: why didn't somebody stop them? Why didn't one of their investors, hearing the name for the first time, say, for God's sake no! Ooze is a bloody awful name for a restaurant. It's a dog of a name. It shouts seepage. It bellows muddy outflow. Infected wounds ooze. Please try again.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/nov/12/foodanddrink.restaurants">Continue reading...</a>Food & drinkLife and styleRestaurantsRestaurantsLondon holidaysUnited Kingdom holidaysSun, 12 Nov 2006 13:08:56 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/nov/12/foodanddrink.restaurantsJay Rayner2006-11-12T13:08:56ZJay Rayner reviews Blackstones in Bathhttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/nov/05/foodanddrink.restaurants
Honest prices, decent food and a panna cotta that 'moves like a woman's breasts' ... No wonder the diners in Blackstones of Bath have smiles on their faces, says Jay Rayner<p><strong>Blackstones<br>2-3 Queen Street, Bath (01225 444 403)<br> Meal for two, including wine and service, £40-70</strong></p><p>Have you ever, while traipsing about a British city centre, found yourself overwhelmed by the urge to run in to a branch of Garfunkel's and scream at the customers: 'You fools! You bottom-dwelling idiots! Don't put this stuff in your mouth! Don't even lift the fork. It is to food what Bernard Manning is to poetry! It is to good taste what George Bush is to world peace. AND IT ISN'T EVEN CHEAP!'</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/nov/05/foodanddrink.restaurants">Continue reading...</a>Food & drinkLife and styleRestaurantsRestaurantsUnited Kingdom holidaysBath holidaysSun, 05 Nov 2006 12:57:04 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2006/nov/05/foodanddrink.restaurantsJay Rayner2006-11-05T12:57:04Z